Social Good Stars: Global Philanthropy Group’s Maggie Neilson

Posted: 04/26/2012 12:21 pm

This is the seventh installment of the Impact series, #SocialGoodStars. The people highlighted here are passionate, dedicated philanthropists, strengths to their communities, and social media masters. They also happily share their vast knowledge with others, making them shine as leaders in the Social Good world. You can read the seventh interview with Ryan Scott, CEO of Causecast, here.

“The world is more malleable than you think and it’s waiting for you to hammer it into shape.” ~ Bono

When it comes to world-shaping, Maggie Neilson, Partner and CEO at Global Philanthropy Group, has tremendous insight. With a background including working with some of the world’s best-know philanthropies and brands with Social Good vision, she has first-hand experience with helping to shape and develop impactful projects globally. Many of her clients are celebrities with a wide reach and equally big passion to help. Additionally, Maggie was on the United Nations‘ International Year of Microcredit Leadership Team, Synergos Insitute‘s international development programs around child malnutrition in India, sustainable global food programs and health programs in Africa, and has been a featured speaker at Harvard and Columbia on microfinance. She weaves her love of helping into every aspect of her life and her work, and shares some of her wisdom below.

Photo courtesy of Global Philanthropy Group

You and your partner Trevor Neilson have worked with many well-known philanthropists, such as Bill Gates, Bono, Sir Richard Branson, President Bill Clinton, Rachael Ray, and numerous others. Are there strategies they share that individuals and organizations can also use?

Yes. Each of these individuals — as well as the corporations we work with — effectively leverages their unique strengths and passions. Bill Gates’ analytical approach and focus on measurable outcomes is unparalleled. Sir Branson deploys Virgin’s marketing genius to help launch new philanthropists. President’ Clinton uses his global network to build high powered coalitions. Rachael’s cooking expertise and approachability enable her to uniquely help people improve their eating. Every person can use what they have to make a change. Just look at what you care about, what you have and who you know. Some of the best philanthropic efforts I’ve seen in recent years have been by kids using what they have.

With your long track record of successful international projects, what changes have you seen in the global landscape because of things like social media and instant access to information?

Social media and information access have been an incredibly powerful tools in philanthropic work. Whether it is a rural farmer receiving crop price data via mobile phone or millions of young people learning quickly about African child soldiers from the Kony 2012 campaign, we see things that were not imaginable a decade ago. However, as with all tools, there is a downside. Pimps and johns can reach sex slaves within a click or two. I heard a john once say that he could order a girl as fast as a pizza. That’s sobering to say the least.

Based on trends you see now, are there new ways you envision individuals and causes interacting a few years from now?

Yes. Technology advances and the challenging economic environment are going to simultaneously result in more informed donors due to better information services and reporting as well as more effective, outcomes-oriented nonprofit organizations. In some cases, this will be due to mergers and acquisitions among duplicative organizations.

Having worked with the United Nations on microfinance/microcredit projects, what role do you see microfinance playing globally now, with the growth of smartphones, apps, text-based fundraising, etc.? What are your thoughts on microdonations becoming a bigger piece of fundraising internationally?

The current state of microfinance is transitional. Whether it achieves its potential will largely be determined by three issues; How can we protect already vulnerable people from abuses by unsavory microfinance practitioners? How can we scale up the provision of microfinance services like savings and insurance which help protect against the natural life events that often lead to extreme poverty? And how can we continue to unleash more commercial capital for microfinance use by low income customers?

I am very excited about the potential of microdonations. If, as I mentioned, we can improve the quantity, quality and usability of data available to donors, this could create a sizable, nimble funding stream.

Can you highlight a couple good examples of kids being involved in causes? What are some resources you’d suggest to parents who want to help their kids get involved and develop a passion for helping others?

This is one of my personal passions. We are in a time of great change in terms of who does what between the government, non-profit and corporate sectors. Everyone – including every person of every age – has the opportunity to be involved in philanthropy. Two good resources are Clover by Clover and Acme Sharing Company. Also organizations like Baby Buggy let parents give back in a way that is easy and makes a difference.

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.

Give your best anyway.”
— from “The Paradoxical Commandments” by Dr. Kent M. Keith, seen inscribed on the walls of Mother Teresa’s children’s home in Calcutta

In this latest installment of my Expert Series I am delighted to welcome Amy Neumann with her compilation of web sites which provide creative resources and tools to help you to get involved in helping others.

Amy, who may be better known to you on Twitter as @charityideas is a passionate advocate of using social media and technology for social good. She is also a lady who is prepared to but her beliefs into practice as one of the team tackling Mera Peak in the Himalayas in Nepal, in April 2012 in aid of charity.

If you would like to find out more about Amy you can find all the places where she blogs and her other social media connections at About.me.

Top 10 Creative Social Good Resources

A question anyone in the “social good” space is asked often, is “What are some of your favorite sites?” Well, there are oodles, which can make it a challenge to select a few choice ones for lists. However, below are a few favorites that might be new or unexpected, ranging across volunteering, fundraising, research, donating, pro-bono, mobile, and a couple very cool celebrity-backed ventures! All of them are excellent tools. Just click on the images to pay them a visit.
Philanthroper

The daily deals site for charity! Get introduced to a new cause every day and give $1 when you’re interested. Awareness plus micro-action! Making doing good an easy daily habit.

Sparked

An opportunity to micro-volunteer anytime, anywhere, online. Projects range from 2 minutes to 2 hours and include many fun, techie things like reviewing social media or translating documents. To learn all about Sparked please see my Huffington Post piece with @2morrowknight.

Crowdrise

Ed Norton’s baby, Crowdrise leverages crowdsourcing for social good fundraising. Any site that uses the mantra “If you don’t give back, no one will like you” is on the right track! Look for their fabulous IYDGBNOWLY T-shirts and set up a fundraising site for your favorite cause.

Kiva

Welcome to the world of micro-finance! Lend a global budding entrepreneur as little as $25 to provide an opportunity for sustainable business. Kiva supporters have already funded close to 600,000 businesses worldwide.

Catchafire

“What will your Butterfly Effect be?” Catchafire helps you use professional skills like marketing and PR on a pro-bono basis, growing your own professional contacts and helping social good organizations at the same time!

Give.Mobi

Let your favorite charity know about this resource, and check who’s here that you support. Since give.mobi’s mobile donation platform works on any smartphone or tablet, it’s simple to set up and use to give a real-time mobile donation (or pledge). Perfect for nonprofit events or to call out on radio or TV interviews due to its easy-to-remember name. Here’s @Lotay Yang’s Black Card Circle Foundation’s page.

KarmaGoat

Free your stuff, shop from friends, do some good! This works like Craigslist, with all proceeds going to charity. Got something too nice to just give away? Some electronics? A gift you’ll never use? Create some good Karma with it. It will get a new home and love, and a great cause will get a donation.

CharityNavigator

Along with GuideStar, this is a great site to research organizations. It’s similar to a Better Business Bureau, for charities.

SixDegrees

It really is a small world! A partnership between Kevin Bacon and Network for Good, Six Degrees helps you see what causes you have in common with friends and celebrities, and you can “pay it forward” with Good Cards that can be redeemed for charity donations.

VolunteerGuide

Self-directed Ideas and resources for volunteering for 15 minutes, a few hours, or on a volunteer vacation. Some easy 15-minute activities:

The moral of the story is – there are nearly unlimited ways to do good. These are a few easy, fun ones to get started with – how will you use them? Please let us know in the comments below!

Many thanks to Amy for her excellent and varied breakdown of many of the best online places to go to be able to offer your money, skills or time to those less fortunate than you.

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For the past 17 years, she has been in executive internet and media sales, helping large corporations leverage media, marketing, and technology. After being an active advocate for causes in Los Angeles for 15 years, she recently relocated back to Cleveland, Ohio.

Amy is a social entrepreneur, developing several non-profit technology apps for use in the US and China to be released in the summer of 2011. Her affinity for Asian culture and history has led to studying Mandarin Chinese for several years as well as an interest in emerging philanthropy markets where technology can really boost donations and volunteerism.

A keen love of nature, adventure, and social media also inspired her to join 12 Twitter friends in a 3-week trek to the top of Mera Peak in the Himalayas in Nepal, April 2012 (which of course will be shared via social media).

Amy’s penchant for all things social media stems from seeing sites like Twitter and Facebook change to course of history, as well as help countless causes by galvanizing human passion.

Today’s post by Tech Cocktail contributor Samantha Strauss (@SFSam22) is the first of a collection of interviews with some heavy-weight social media industry personalities with a goal to highlight the entrepreneur in all of us.

Are you on Twitter? If you’re reading Tech Cocktail, we’ll assume you are. Since you’re on Twitter we’ll also assume that you may have heard of and/or be one of the over 32,000 people who follows @CharityIdeas, aka Amy Neumann. As one of The Huffington Post’s Top 16 People on Twitter Who Inspire the World and Bit Rebels’ Twitter’s Top 75 Bad Ass Women, Amy is known by her followers as a constant source of engaging philanthropic content and enlightening tweets.

What her followers and the world might not know is that while Amy is a “Twitter celebrity,” she’s also an entrepreneur. After years in the corporate world working for companies such as AT&T and Yahoo in various marketing capacities, Amy launched the consulting firm Good Plus Tech in April of this year. Good Plus Tech, merged Amy’s two passions, technology and volunteering.

“Good Plus Tech does just what the name says,” Amy said. “Social good plus technology. We focus on cause marketing and social good branding for nonprofits and corporations, with an emphasis on social media….My long-term goal is to impact the global level of volunteering and donating, focusing on emerging philanthropy markets.”

Recently we had a chance to talk with Amy about how she got started and what her thoughts on entrepreneurship, social media (specifically Twitter), leadership and charity are. Here is what Amy had to say:

Amy Neumann, Founder of Good Plus Tech and @CharityIdeas on Twitter

TC: What are the key attributes of a successful entrepreneur?

Amy: I’d answer this with an adage we’ve heard a million times but is so true: we are all entrepreneurs. We sell our ideas to clients, coworkers, board members, spouses, friends, audiences….Even if you aren’t running your own company, you’re still running your life, and you’re always in charge. No matter what, we all control how we treat people and ourselves.

TC: Is there a guiding principle that you wish you knew when you started that you know now?

Amy: “Just Do It”! Take risks. If you’re wrong, you learn faster than any other way possible. And the more often you try new things, the faster you find the ones you love and are meant to do.

TC: What would you say to a budding entrepreneur?

Amy: Network with positive, smart, giving people. Ask people who are where you want to be how they did it. Find a great mentor or two or three. Most successful people got that way by being honest, friendly, hard-working, and helpful and are happy to share ideas and insight.

TC: Why is social media important to you?

Amy: I’m a wildly curious person and lover of people, so social media is the perfect way to instantly connect with fascinating people and ideas all over the world. And without sites like Twitter to connect people with similar passions, how else would we happen upon them? Love it.

TC: What’s your key to building a great following on Twitter?

Amy: Keep in mind that Twitter is IRL – real people behind avatars (mostly). So the things that work well in person, adjusted to social media format, work well. Share interesting and useful things. Be helpful. Listen. Respond. Be friendly and courteous. Thank people. Introduce people you think would like each other. And be positive.

TC: Do you thank every person that RTs you? Why or Why not?

Amy: Whenever possible, I try to thank people, and I RT tons of interesting links and quotes as well. Share the wealth, I say! After awhile it can be hard to thank everyone all the time, but I do read and appreciate every tweet even if I don’t send a thanks or RT right away.

TC: What’s your Twitter mantra?

Amy: Share, learn, grow!

TC: Why is Charity important to you?

Amy: Helping others makes both sides happy. It’s a fundamental love of mine. Not everything is perfect for anyone all the time, so helping one another when it’s needed is important. It really does help the giver as much as the recipient.

TC: How do you recommend people include charity in their life? Should it be a daily goal? Weekly goal to help someone at least once?

Amy: Some easy ones first! Smile more. Be friendly to strangers. Give people the benefit of the doubt. And of course, there are great sites online for raising money, virtual volunteering, and spreading awareness, in addition to volunteering in person. Twitter and Facebook are immensely helpful for spreading awareness, so just talking about your favorite cause is helpful.

TC: Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? Maybe someone who has been a mentor to you? How did this person impact your life?

Amy: My parents instilled a love of helping in me, and my father’s an entrepreneur. I have met countless people who’ve had an influence by being optimistic, unstoppable world-changers. And I adored Bill Gates and Warren Buffett long before they became the world’s largest philanthropists and created the Giving Challenge, which makes me admire them even more.

In the Everest range, Mera Peak is the highest trekking peak in Nepal. This will make a huge challenge for the Twitterteam. Most have never been anywhere near as high nor walked for so long in many days, never mind upwards.

To climb this Mountain, in April 2012, the team will need 3 weeks of guts, determination, willpower and teamwork to reach the goal at the top, as well as a massive year training/preparing…

2.Use your name or pick a short, simple, memorable or self-explanatory name.
-Only letters and numbers (and underscores) are allowed. Try to avoid an underscore ( _), as it’s tough to type on mobile devices. Use numbers sparingly. (Mine is @CharityIdeas)

3.Fill out the 140-character bio fully. Many people won’t follow anyone who doesn’t have a bio.

4.Add a link to a site of yours, or an organization you like. You can take out the www part so people can read more of it at a glance. Sample: http://amyneumann.com

5. Upload a picture or “avatar”. Most people won’t follow someone with a default avatar (square with a bird) as it’s a spammer favorite.
-A real picture of yourself works best for most personal accounts.

6.Always shorten URLs with a link-shortening tool like http://bit.ly so you have more room in your tweet.

7.If you see an interesting tweet, you can “forward” or ReTweet (RT) it by putting: RT @username123 Copy of what their tweet said.

8. Try to keep tweets under 120 characters so others can easily RT.

9.To send a reply to someone specific, start the tweet with @theirusername , i.e. @ClaireD Love your “Twitter for Good” book! #Twitter4Good
-To see who’s sending you messages or mentioning you, check your “@Mentions”
-Direct Messages or DMs are messages sent “privately” to one user from another; someone must be following you for you to be able to DM them.

10.The # is called a “hashtag”, used to tag tweets. If you add a # (hashtag) in front of a keyword, people can track & find easily with tools and search.
-It shows a purposeful use of a word so others can find it. i.e., #philanthropy will be found by others interested in philanthropy.

11.Try a tool like TweetDeck or HootSuite to make it easier once you get going. Hootsuite, Seesmic and CoTweet allow multiple users to tweet on one account.